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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0055.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD .• FOUNDED 1909 Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. War Correspondent JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London. COVENTRY: 8-10, CORPORATION ST. Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telephone ; Coventry 5 2 10. Telephone: Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). BIRMINGHAM, 2 s GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 2971 (5 lines). MANCHESTER, 3: 260,. DEANSGATE. Telegrams : Miffe, Manchester. Telephone: Blackfriars +412. GLASGOW. CJ: 26B, RENFI ELD ST. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Central 4857. No. T881. Vol. XLVII. Registered <K the 6.P.Q. as a Newspaper. January 11th, 1945. cJAe Outlook Thursdays. One Shilling. Lord Swinton's ChanceG REAT BRITAIN'S commercial aviation picture looks somewhat gloomy at the moment. Politics, which have never yet done anything very helpful for this cause, have cast their sinister shadows over it. Lord Swinton has returned from Chicago a sadder and, we hope, a wiser man. When the proposal to send him was first announced we commented that this was unfair to Lord Swinton. Subsequent events have amply demonstrated that the handicap under which he was labouring was too great, and the Chicago results, or rather the lack thereof, were scarcely surprising. So far as the "political" angle is concerned, our main hope now rests on Empire unity. It is to be hoped that the talks which Lord Swinton has had recently with Commonwealth representatives will have cleared the way for a common policy, and the sooner such a policy can be declared in unmistakable terms the better. There is, however, a second side to the picture—the technical. Here Lord Swinton has an opportunity to go down to history as the saviour of British civil aviation. We shall get over the Chicago setback in time. The effects of the Chicago Charter (or should it be Barter?) can be largely neutralised if. and only if, the Common- wealth realises where its interests lie. Lord Swinton's second great chance, if he will take it, is that of rescuing the British aircraft industry, or at least that part of it which is willing and able to design and build civil air- craft, from the hampering hand of officialdom and red tape. "Rescuing" is the right word. The men are there, at the top; the ideas are there; in many cases the money is there in spite of taxation and the enor- mous difficulty of scraping enough together for research and experiment, Not only so, but the customers are there, abroad as well as in the Commonwealth. What is wanted is the release of a relatively few men, tech- thenicians, draughtsmen and artisans, to speed-up detail work; and, of course, a few materials. That does not appear to be asking a lot, especially in view of the opinion so freely expressed by all political shades, that a healthy export trade is an absolute neces- sity if the standard of living is to be maintained or im- proved. But until the Government takes an intelligent interest in the subject, and awakens to an appreciation of what flying will mean to the Empire in the future, there is little hope of getting anything done. As our first Minister for Civil Aviation, Lord Swinton should be in a position to impress upon the Government the vital necessity for letting the aircraft industry go ahead with its plans—at least in quite a modest way. Manufac- turers are not asking help from the Government, merely that some of the many hampering brakes should be taken off. Lord Swinton could set his hand to no worthier task than that of seeing that this is done, and done quickly, otherwise it will be too late. Showing the Flag A FTER a round trip of some 12,000 miles, a Halifax f~\ III with Hercules engines and manned by a R.A.F. crew has returned to this country having visited Rhodesia and South Africa. At Cape Town a number of demonstration flights were made over the city and surrounding districts, and in addition more than 1,000 members of the Services were shown over the air- craft. The return journey was made via Bulawayo, Ndola, Nairobi, Khartoum, Cairo and Rome. The machine was commanded by Sqn. Ldr. Clyde-Smith, D.S.O., D.F.C., of the R.A.F. Such a flight is to be warmly applauded. South Africa has not seen much of British first-line aircraft (a short visit by a Spitfire is about all), and we gather that the Halifax created enormous interest. Although the
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